Mihajlo Pupin
 |
Mihajlo Pupin - Inventor and scientist |
Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D. (
Serbian Cyrillic:
Михајло Идворски Пупин) (
1858,
October 4 -
March 12,
1935) (also known as "Michael I. Pupin") was a
Serbian physicist and physical
chemist. Pupin is best known for his landmark theory of modern electrical filters as well as for his numerous patents, including a means of greatly extending the range of long-distance
telephone communication by placing loading coils (of
wire) at predetermined intervals along the
transmitting wire (known as
pupinization).
Pupin was born in the village of
Idvor near
Pančevo (in
Banat, then part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, today in
Serbia). His parents were illiterate immigrants from the
Prespa region in
Macedonia. Though a strong Serbian patriot, Pupin emigrated to U.S. when he was only 16. He spent the next few years in a series of menial jobs (most notably, the biscuit factory on
Cortlandt Street in Manhattan), learning English and American ways; the library at
Cooper Union was an important resource for him. He entered
Columbia College in
1879, where he became known as an exceptional athlete and scholar. A popular student, he was elected president of his class in his Junior year. He graduated with honors in
1883 at Columbia College,
New York and became an American citizen at the same time. He obtained his Ph.D. at the
University of Berlin under
Hermann von Helmholtz and in
1889, he returned to Columbia University to become a teacher of
mathematical physics in the newly formed Department of Electrical Engineering. Pupin's research pioneered
carrier wave detection and
current analysis.
Pupin's
1894 invention, now known as "
Pupin coil", greatly extended the range of long-distance telephones. This was a very important invention, and, when the American rights to the patent were acquired by American Telephone and Telegraph, made him wealthy. Pupin's work followed closely on the pioneering work of the English physicist and mathematician Oliver
Heaviside, which predates Pupin's patent by some 7 years.
Pupin was among the first to replicate
Roentgen's production of
x-rays in the United States. He in
1896 invented the method of placing a sheet of paper impregnated with fluorescent dyes next to the photographic plate, thereby permitting an exposure of only a few seconds, rather than that of an hour or more. He also carried out the first medically-oriented studies of the utility of x-rays in the United States. Shortly afterwards, in April 1896, he contracted pneumonia, and nearly died. His wife, who nursed him, also contracted it, and died. He was never able to return to his studies of x-rays.
In
1901, he became a professor and, in
1931, a professor emeritus of Columbia University. Professor Pupin was a resident of
New York, New York and
Norfolk, Connecticut, where he built a Serbian-style manor house on his estate, Hemlock Hill Farm.
In
1911 Pupin became a consul of
Kingdom of Serbia in New York. In his speech to Congress on
January 8,
1918, known as the
Fourteen Points speech, U.S. president
Woodrow Wilson, inspired by his conversations with Pupin, insisted on the restoration of
Serbia and
Montenegro, as well as autonomy for the peoples of the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
Michael Pupin's autobiography,
"From Immigrant to Inventor", won the
Pulitzer Prize in
1924. He also wrote
"The New Reformation" (
1927) and
"Romance of the Machine" (
1930), as well as many technical papers. In his many popular writings, Pupin advanced the view that modern science supported and enhanced belief in God. Pupin was active with the
Serb émigré societies in the USA, he was the first president and founder of the
Serbian National Defense Council of America. In 1918, professor Pupin edited a book on Serbian monuments, under the title "Serbian Orthodox Church".
Pupin was president of the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1917 and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1925-1926. In addition to that, Pupin was president of the New York Academy of Science, member of the French Academy of Science and the Serbian Academy of Science. In 1920, he received
AIEE's
Edison Medal 'For his work in mathematical physics and its application to the electric transmission of intelligence.' Columbia University's
Pupin Hall, the site of Pupin Physics Laboratories, is a building completed in 1927 and named after him in 1935. A
small crater on
the Moon was named in his honor. The
Mihajlo Pupin Institute, an engineering and technological research insititution, was founded in 1946 in
Belgrade.
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* ,
Art Of Reducing Attenuation Of Electrical Waves And Apparatus Therefor, filed Dec. 14, 1899.
* ,
Electrical Wave Transmission, filed Dec. 11, 1915.
* ,
Inductive Artificial Lines, filed Feb. 24, 1928.
* ,
Selective amplifying apparatus.
*
Michael I Pupin at
IEEE History Center
*
Michael I Pupin at
Eugenii Katz's
Famous Scientists site
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Michael Idvorsky Pupin
